


Changes

by transmattsc



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: ADHD Tord, Abusive Parents, Chest Binding, Haircuts, M/M, Neurodivergent Tord, Neurodiversity, Trans Male Character, Transgender Tord, Yet Another Tord Fic From Yours Truly, matt's in denial, nonbinary matt, pancakes are involved i think, takes place over the span of multiple years, tord gets really fucking scared of a hair trimmer lmao, tord has abusive parents, tord has adhd, trans Matt, trans tord, transmasc matt, transmasc tord
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:20:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24759211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transmattsc/pseuds/transmattsc
Summary: Tord, with the help of his friends, goes through his later teen years as a transgender man. Matt is there with him.Gay happens.
Relationships: Edd & Matt & Tom & Tord (Eddsworld), Matt/Tord (Eddsworld), Tom & Tord (Eddsworld)
Kudos: 30





	Changes

"So… you're a boy? Cool." Matt raised his eyebrows at his good friend, who was across from him at the table.

Tord looked back at him apprehensively. "Yeah. You're not… mad?" He seemed a bit scared, as if Matt would bite his head off from where he was sitting.

"Why would I be mad? I knew already." The ginger took a messy bite of his pancakes.

"What?" Tord neglected to answer his question, only to reply with one of his own. A simple word. "Why?"

"Every time someone called you a girl, you'd cringe like they were insulting your favorite anime or something." Matt chewed up another bite of fluffy breakfast goodness.

"I can't help that!" He sighed, hiding his slight embarrassment in a sip from his milkshake. "My name is Tord now. And I am a he." Tord said.

"Is Tord short for anything?" inquired Matt.

"Uh… Thorfrid?" the blond whispered to him. Unfortunately for Tord, Matt began to laugh, nearly choking on his food. "Don't laugh! My name is Tord Nygård!" Heat rose to his cheeks.

"Oh my God, Thorfrid!" Matt slammed his hand on the table as he laughed. Though he liked the name, this was undoubtedly hilarious to him. It sounded so dorky.

"Shut up!  _ Matthew _ ."

His name and pronouns changed that day. But it was a good change. Even if Matt couldn’t stop laughing at his full name- and especially since Matt forgot his deadname entirely within the week because of it.

* * *

"Are you sure you want me to do this? If you don't like it, it'll take a while to grow back." Matt held the sharp implement in his nimble hands, looking down at the man sitting on the toilet lid. He'd agreed to let Matt cut his hair to start his transition- which was a relief to Matt, because good god long hair didn't suit him at all, and he used way too much shampoo any time he'd stay over with Matt.

"You're the one who suggested it, stop complaining before I cut it myself and make you look at it." Tord threatened. "It's not like it'd kill me to do so."

Matt scoffed. "Well I never! But then I'd just fix it for you, I will not have my friend looking like an idiot." He rolled his eyes and began to gather Tord's hair into a ponytail. He had to admit, it looked kind of cute to him. But the length on the unsecured end had to go.

SNIP! "You let Tom and Edd look like idiots all the time!" He complained, despite the newfound lack of weight on his head. It felt so freeing already. Even if his parents would chew him out for cutting his hair. God, that felt so good. It made him relax slightly.

"That's because they ARE idiots!" SNIP! Matt had started to take out the remaining length in the back, often gently tilting Tord's head by grasping his chin in order to reach it.

"Yeah… I have to admit, that's true." Tord smiled a bit, mostly at the nice feeling of gentle touches to his face and hair, no slapping or kicking or punching like he'd get at school or home. He could almost purr at the soft hands delicately moving his head and hair around. It felt so good.

"Do you want me to keep the little horns in your bangs…?" If Matt noticed his friend being so relaxed, he didn't show it. He seemed just as calm, noticing how without the weight, a lot of Tord's hair would stick up at the ends. Huh, must be why his horns are like that. He liked those horns. They made Tord look like a tiny devil swamped in an oversized, ancient coat! Matt was pretty close to the front by now.

"Yeah, yeah. They're kinda my thing." It was unusual to see Tord so calm like this. Normally he'd be making weird noises while reading hentai or drawing boobs. He didn’t seem to like real boobs as much. Plus, he always had at least one weapon on him. It was another one of his odd quirks- although Matt liked some of them, not all of them were likeable. 

Matt raised his eyebrows. "Right. And I suppose drowning yourself in that trench coat is 'your thing', too." He replied. “You ought to wear something else.” Truthfully, the coat stank, and Tord just didn’t want to bother removing everything from the pockets to wash it. He was lucky to be getting a break from smelling it, as Tord was just in one of Matt’s black shirts to not get his own clothes covered in hair.

"If you have such a damn problem with them, then just cut them off or something." Tord let out a small hiss as Matt almost cut into his ear as a warning. God, why did Matt own something this sharp? He could probably vivisect the poor boy with them if he put his mind to it. Or chop off something else, the sacks of fatty tissue on his chest and stomach. But Matt was no surgeon, just some kid who hired a hitman on a bully during freshman year. And stabbed a kid. And _also_ stabbed that other kid. In the end, he knew what he was doing with the scissors, and Tord trusted him to not make him look like a total bollock.

The ginger hummed in concentration and pursed his lips. "Nah, I think I like them. They're cute on you." He merely trimmed the horns to be even with the rest of the shortened blond hair. It almost looked caramel coloured in the light.

"That's gay, Matt." muttered Tord, not used to being complimented and thinking that surely any sort of compliment on his appearance meant romantic attraction. He got them so rarely. In his mind, compliment = 100% bona fide  _ gay _ . Tord didn’t have an issue with it, but he was scared that being boyfriends with a guy would make him be read as female more often.

Matt laughed at him for a moment. " _ You're _ gay." This made Tord tense up slightly and pout, putting his head down a bit. "Hold still, dammit. I don't want to rip out one of your piercings like what happened to Tom." Oh boy, he really didn’t want a big scar on his ear like Tom had gotten on his eyebrow. He froze up so Matt could finish. Besides, he had way more scars than he’d care to admit from playing with fireworks. And his emotional problems. At least he could deal with the missing fingers.

"Fine, fine. I'll be sure to take them out next time." promised Tord. He was not up to angering Matt right now- especially since he had a sharp implement. And by next time, he’d probably have more piercings on his ears than just the simple studs near the pointy tips of them.

"Implying there will be a bloody next time." There probably would be. Matt liked touching this boy’s hair for some reason- no, he liked touching this boy in particular. But he couldn’t be in love with Tord, he’s not gay, Tord is probably only into girls anyway.

"I meant next time I get my hair cut. You're not my personal, uh." He wracked his brain for the English word. Shit, why’d he always have to forget? "Scissors person." Judging from the amused expression on Matt’s face, he didn’t get it right.

Matt let out a laugh at that. "The word is barber."

"Right." He rolled his eyes.

"Besides, you won't need it cut for a while when I'm done. I'm doing a good job." The tall boy couldn’t help but compliment his handiwork. He liked it, and he liked Tord, and- wait, no, he didn’t like Tord like that! He just couldn’t stop staring at him! That’s all!

"Ok, but if I wind up bald because you slipped up, I swear I'll-" SNIP!

"Oopsie!" Matt let out a teasing giggle, having dared to cut rather close to the back of Tord's head. There, now he can be a dick and blow cold air on his neck.

"MATT! What the Hell did you do?" He would have scrambled to feel his hair had Matt not been still working on it. The last thing he wanted was more screw ups. Tord would be fine, right?

"Nothing, nothing, it'll be okay." Matt let out an idle hum as he worked, switching to another suspiciously sharp pair of scissors midway. "You already look great without it in your face."

"Thanks?" Tord wasn't sure if he should trust Matt on that or not. But he did initially trust him because he claimed to cut his own hair, so… well, he had questions to say the least. "Wait, when did you learn to cut hair anyway?"

"I endured YEARS-" He harshly snipped a lock away from the side of Tord's head with the first pair of scissors again. "of _bloody_ _shitty_ pixie cuts and weird bobs as a kid because everyone read me as female. So I gave up and decided to do it myself."

"Well, I'm glad I'm in the hands of someone who understands that. By short," Tord explained, "I mean _short_ , not looking like Karen from the supermarket! Gah!" He let out a small whine. "Are you almost done yet?"

"I've really outdone myself! I just have to finish it up a bit." Matt assured, before picking up an electric trimmer. This unfortunately made Tord just about shit his pants in fear. 

"Wait, wait, you're using _that_ …?" His eyes were wide as saucers as Matt turned it on. It looked menacing to him, but to Matt it was just another tool.

"Don't be a fucking baby. I need it to make the back look nice." He touched the blade to Tord's neck, making him cringe at the weird feeling. Ughhhh, it felt like his phone was vibrating there, except with more sharp things. 

"Augh, but those things tickle! And I don't want you to cut my ear." Tord would not admit to being scared. It was supposedly unmasculine of him, and that was the last thing he needed right now. So, he'd resort to valid complaints he'd heard from Tom- even if Tom didn't mind the tickle (hell, he even had an undercut), he did not like bleeding from his ears. Tord didn't either.

"What's wrong? Scared of clippers?" Matt laughed at him and just began to get to work at slowly ridding of the baby hairs decorating his friend's neck. The loud buzzing of the trimmer stung at Tord's poor eardrums.

Said friend sighed loudly. "No- Jesus Christ, just get it over with, you dick." The blade was so goddamn cold, and he'd have to shower for a little extra time to get those tiny itchy bits off of himself. He was glad Matt wouldn't put gallons of product in or anything.

"As you wish." Matt shrugged and continued, this time going a bit faster so his poor poor friend wouldn't be "suffering" for much longer. It wasn't long before Matt was done, deciding to take a nice, cold can of compressed air into his hands instead of a hair dryer. It worked to rid of the bits on the back of his neck, and it'd fuck with Tord! A win-win situation. Plus Tord was gonna shower afterwards anyway.

FWOOSH- "ACK! MATT!" Tord shot up off of his seat and nearly fell onto the floor. "You asshole!" Matt laughed, and just pat Tord on the shoulder, guiding him back to a balanced standing position in front of the mirror.

…

…

…

Tord was staring at his reflection, mouth slightly agape. "So, do you like it?" Matt asked.

"It's alright…" It stuck up in all the right places, curling up at the ends and making him look honestly pretty adorable- in Matt’s eyes, at least.

"I see you smiling, Tord. You love it!" Matt put words in his mouth- and he was right.

"How could I not? I actually look like a guy for once." Tord was grinning and already starting to feel his hair, stimming with it. The short ends felt so, so great. It was stimmy goddamn paradise for him. Ohhhh, that felt heavenly, and all the weight is gone too. Nodding his head isn't a chore now, and when he looks in the mirror, his reflection looks that much closer to what he wants it to be.

"You always did. You just looked like an unhappy one in bad need of a haircut until now." Matt brushed off the side of his neck, looking proudly at his work, and also Tord's face. God, why was that tooth gap so cute to him? Stupid smile, it made Matt want to grab him by those squishy little cheeks and just kiss his chapped little lips.

"Thank you, Matt. It looks great. I look just like an anime boy!" Oh. Of course. Tord had used anime as an escape from time to time, and he was no stranger to being jealous of hot anime men with flat chests and bodies to be proud of, and-

" _Fucking weeb_." Matt scolded, hitting his shoulder playfully.

"Shut up! I like it!"

"Hmm, I think you should dye it." He twirled some of the cut hair around his finger. "But you should shower first."

Tord's hair changed, and he liked it. He liked it a lot. Matt liked it too, more specifically he liked to pet it- and watch Tord's small smile.

* * *

"SURPRISE!" Matt jumped in front of his good old friend with a huge grin that nearly split his face in two. He had a small, flat present box in his hands, and he shoved said box towards Tord.

Tord blinked, startled. The short little hairs on the back of his neck stood completely on end. "Holy shit, you don't have to yell!" His surprised expression then softened. "What's with the gift…?"

This made Matt frown slightly. "It's a birthday gift! Did you not remember it's your birthday?" He was mildly confused as to why Tord didn't just take the gift and violently rip it open like a mad animal.

"Well, yeah, but, don't you only normally get gifts from your grandparents and aunt?" Genuinely confused as well, Tord absentmindedly picked at the hand-tied present bow. God, Matt had gone all out, he felt bad about destroying the wrapping paper.

"No? Don't your parents get you anything?" Matt questioned, becoming more confused by the second.

"Are they supposed to?"

Matt blinked, frowning deeper. "Yeah! Even mine send me stuff from time to time. Money and makeup and stuff." At least he liked makeup. The money, he felt bad about spending it, so he'd started stashing it to save up for top surgery.

"Eugh." Tord cringed at the mention of makeup.

"You know you like the feeling of the brush.~ I've seen how you relax when I stroke it over your face." The ginger Brit decided to tease his Scandinavian buddy about that fact- Tord just thought the brushes were very soft and pleasant to feel, but not makeup itself.

Tord crossed his arms, but made sure to not drop the gift. It could be something he wanted for once. "Yeah, but I really don't like it when I'm forced to put the most feminine makeup possible on for some stupid wedding my parents want me to go to!"

"Understandable.” Matt patted his friend’s head. “Open your gift, Tord!"

"But… why? Why are you being so nice to me?" He began to untie the pristine bow that decorated the small gift box, being sure not to ruin it. It was just too tidy and nice for him to do that, and he didn’t want to disappoint Matt.

"Friends get friends birthday gifts, right? And attend each other's parties." The cycle of confusion continued- as Tord's parents didn't care much for him and thus didn't often get him gifts.

Tord sighed. "Oh, I never really had parties," He managed to open up the gift without too many issues. It was a few neatly ironed black chest binders, with his name embroidered on each one in beautiful handwriting. "Is this…?" The shorter man blinked in surprise, eyes once again wide as saucers.

Matt excitedly shoved his friend towards the bathroom, wanting to see this man happy."Yes. Yes it is. Now, put one on!"

"Ow! Ow! Alright!" The Norwegian groaned, locking himself inside the bathroom for a moment. He wiggled out of his trench coat, out of his shirt, and out of the severely stretched sports bra underneath. Then, Tord put on one of the binders, immediately loving both the pressure and the flat chest it gave him. Once fully reclothed, Tord left the bathroom.

Matt gave his friend a soft smile. "There we go… Do you like it? Does it fit you okay?" He questioned.

"I… This feels so nice. It fits." The feeling of passing so well now before medical transition brought a happy grin to Tord’s face.

"Yeah. I bet it feels good to be more comfortable in your own body, huh?" Matt patted Tord on the shoulder, still gently smiling at him.

Tord chuckled. "It does. But don't you think it's kinda gay to get me a birthday gift, even if it's something like this?" He wasn't used to Matt's niceness at all.

Caught in the act, Matt's cheeks heated up somewhat. "Well, I… shut up."

"What, are you actually gay for me or something? You're being suspiciously nice to me lately." Tord further questioned his motives.

"I said, shut up." Matt playfully poked his cheek.

"Ugh, fine."

Tord's mood changed that day, and it changed for the better.

* * *

“All you have to do is just ask him to prom now! You have your ticket and your suit, now call him up and just ask him!” Tom shoved Tord’s phone into his hand- the screen still cracked to all hell despite him being in a position to replace it now.

He didn’t take the phone from Tom, still too scared to call up his friend. “But… I… Tom, you didn’t have to do this for me! I’m not confident enough to ask Matt out, especially not to prom…”

“He’d love to see you in a suit, c’mon,” Tom playfully punched him in the shoulder, causing Tord to flinch. “Shit, sorry.”

Tord puffed. “Yeah, and birds are made of beef.”

“Please? I’ll style your hair for prom night if you ask him.” Tom put an arm around his buddy.   
  
“That’s just another con, you always use an entire canister of gel for any occasion.” The taller boy flinched, but let Tom touch him.   
  
The man without eyes rolled his voids. “Oh- shut up and just ask him! You have his number in your contacts, and I’m pretty sure he’s gay for you too.”

"No, he isn't! He's just nice."

Tom gave him a look. "Since when is Matt nice to people? He really really likes you, Tord."

"If I get rejected, he'll hate me. And if I go with Matt, _I'llbeseendancingwithsomeoneandbeingallloveydoveyandmyparentswillfindoutandI'llgetbeatenforit_." Tord looked away, his shoulders slumping and his speech speeding up in a nervous manner. He still wasn't used to not being prosecuted for everything he did.

When Tord mentioned his birth parents, Tom pat his shoulder. "Tord… you do remember you're safe now, right?" he said. "They can't get you. They have no power anymore." When Tord had come to school missing a tooth that certainly wasn't a baby tooth one morning, Tom had had enough and went to the counselor with Edd, despite them being in different houses.

"I… yeah, yeah, I am safe… with a bowling ball and a pineapple, but I'm safe." He relaxed a bit, remembering that he did not sleep on a dirty and damaged mattress in a small, pink room anymore. Instead, Social Services had him situated in a nice orange-walled guest bedroom at Tom's house until he decided to move out. A guest bedroom with a mattress that HAD been replaced in the last 16 years. A guest bedroom that he could leave without being mocked by the people outside of it. A guest bedroom in a house with parents that weren't his either, but parents that were understanding of Tord and didn't constantly call him "she" or "Thora". A guest bedroom that didn't have a carpet beetle infestation. A guest bedroom in a house with parents that didn't threaten to shave his head when he got a haircut they didn't like (frankly he’s glad those were empty threats, because his forehead is full of acne.). For those reasons, the guest bedroom felt like home to him.

"Social Services works in weird ways. Now ask him out! I'll make sure he isn't a dick to you." Tom told him, snapping him out of his reminiscing. 

He blinked at Tom. "...Is that a threat aimed at Matt?"

"Yes. Now ask him." Tom gave him an expectant look.

"Fine. If you're gonna be that stubborn." Tord silently navigated through his contact menu via the cracked screen of his phone- he’d never wanted to replace the phone, and he hadn’t yet had time to order a replacement screen. He tapped on Matt’s contact, then hit “call”. For a few tense moments, the phone rang, and then Matt picked up.

"Hello? Tord?" A confused Matt answered.

Tord coughed, and then began his conversation. "Hey Matt… I wanna ask you something."

Matt pursed his lips slightly on the other end, putting down his crocheting. "What do you want to ask?"

"Uh…" Tord looked to Tom, who gave him a reassuring nod. "Would you go to prom with me? I… don't really have anyone else to go with." He hadn’t noticed that he’d begun to absentmindedly pace around the room.

"Ohhh… well that's gay… Sure." The ginger’s cheeks turned slightly pink, yet he ignored it and smiled.

Tord blinked in surprise. "Really?" He asked.

Matt laughed. "Yes, really. You better not wear that damn trench coat to prom, though."

"I won't, I won't." The trenchcoat-wearing man reassured. He had a nice suit now, a suit he’d never get rid of even after he grew out of it.

Tord's relationship with Matt changed that day, and both of them couldn't be any happier.

* * *

“Okay, the spot’s safe. There we go.” Matt cleaned off a patch of skin on Tord’s thigh, carefully checking if the spot was right and then injecting the first dose of testosterone Tord would ever have.   
  
“Ok, ok… it’s in. It’s in. It’s in!” A huge grin spread on Tord’s face despite the pain in his upper thigh.   
  
The taller boy put an arm around his shoulder with a small chuckle. “Someone’s excited.”   
  
“Well, why wouldn’t I be?” Tord asked. “I’m finally getting my damn male puberty like I should have gotten it!”

“Yeah, but you aren’t normally excited to be putting a needle in your ass.” This made Matt let out another chuckle. “Shots feel awful.”   
  
“At least it’s not going in my asshole. That’d still be worth it, though.” Tord began to laugh at their discussion as well, mostly egged on by Matt’s own laughter.

"So you'd stick a needle in your rectum for a defined jaw and cheekbones?" This just made Matt let out more giggles, causing the circle of immature laughter to be complete.

He rested his head on Matt’s shoulder. "Yes. But wouldn't you, too?"

"I already have that, Tord." Of course, Matt had the chin of a damn God- he’d been lucky enough to look rather masculine from birth. At least he didn’t flaunt his natural masculinity and make fun of those who looked more feminine online anymore.

"For the fat distribution not all going to your hips like it did before?" Tord questioned. Oh god, Matt hated that. It made him cringe.

Matt rolled his eyes, still cringing at the memory. "I'm already getting the shot in my thigh! Stop complaining, you got your T shot."

"Fine, fine. But I'm just so happy I'm finally gonna be able to grow a beard!" He expectantly brought his hands up to his face and felt his cheeks and chin.

"You shouldn't grow a beard." Matt immediately responded. “Just don’t.”

"Why not? I'll look manly." Tord began to pout.

"You'll also look unkempt. I'll have to teach you to shave, and every time I’d get a kiss from you it’d tickle like hell."

"What? No!" Tord puffed at him, squinting.

Matt rolled his eyes. "Don't be a baby! It's not that bad, you don't need a beard to look good."

"Fine. At least let me have some stubble, please?"

"I'll allow it."

"Ugh, you're so fussy." He pouted.  


His life changed again, and he loved it. Tord loved every little facial hair that grew in- Matt didn't, but he liked to play with the stubble.

And for Tord, life was pretty great from that day forward.

**Author's Note:**

> This originally ended with Tord getting top surgery, but I lost my executive function again and just wound up cutting out the unfinished parts. Sorry.


End file.
